2 Corinthians 12:1-4

Because of the false teachers, Paul continued boasting, though such would not ordinarily be desirable. The visions of which he spoke would have been given by God, while revelations were used to expose truths God had not shown before. The specific vision the apostle referred to involved a man, which was Paul according to verse 7, caught up into the third heaven. The birds fly in the first heaven, stars shine in the second, and God abides in the third. Paul could not tell whether he went bodily or only in spirit. Some think the passing of fourteen years would place Paul back in Antioch (Acts 13:1-3). However, he may have been speaking of the stoning at Lystra (Acts 14:19-20). The latter would more readily explain why he could not say whether he was in or out of the body (2 Corinthians 12:1-3).

Jewish writers often used parallelism, a technique wherein they write of a matter twice using slightly different but synonymous words so the reader is sure to understand. Paradise, as used in this verse, apparently refers to the "third heaven". The purpose for this vision is unknown, though it must have helped Paul face the trials already mentioned. We do know God would not allow him to talk about it.